Wonks and War Rooms

In this episode, Elizabeth talks to Mike Pal, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, about election laws in Canada. Elizabeth and Mike discuss the laws and institutions that govern elections in Canada, including the Canada Elections Act and Elections Canada.   They discuss threats to election integrity and security posed by new technologies in an age of democratic decline. Elizabeth and Mike also delve into the threat of foreign interference, voter privacy in big data elections, and a changing media environment prone to misinformation and disinformation. They close out by talking about artificial intelligence (AI), specifically its potential to transform our electoral landscape and how we should best prepare to ensure our laws and institutions continue to bolster public trust in our democracy.  Additional Resources Throughout the episode, Mike and Elizabeth reference the Canada Elections Act to understand part of Canada’s legal regime around election integrity and security. Mike cites the American Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000) case as an example of the importance of election laws as a way for citizens to exercise their political rights.  Elizabeth discusses the need to begin mapping out the role of technology in election security laws in Canada,  including potential threats to elections and how election laws might then be updated or changed. For more information, consult: Election Integrity and Security. To listen to our episode on Foreign Interference at the Nomination Level, consult: Season 7 Episode 4 - Foreign Interference at the Nomination Level with Conner Coles. Mike mentions how there are privacy rules of various kinds, but political parties federally are an exception, to learn more consult: Guidance for federal political parties on protecting personal information. To  listen to episodes from our season on political influencers, consult: Season 6 of the Wonks and War Rooms podcast.  Elizabeth and Mike also reference the Elections Modernization Act to understand the importance of updating laws to protect election integrity and security.  Mike mentions the ‘Big Lie”; the idea of claiming without justification or without evidence that the electoral system is rigged on one side or the other. Contributors Host: Elizabeth Dubois Research Lead: Michelle Rodrigues Transcript: Michelle Rodrigues  Audio Editing: Ayman Naciri Translation: Els Thant & Helena Legault Publishing and Promotion: Helena Legault & Michelle Bartleman  Producer: Michelle Hennessey Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.

In this episode, Elizabeth talks to Nick Taylor-Vaisey, a journalist for Politico who works on the Ottawa Playbook, a free daily morning newsletter decoding Canadian politics. Nick and Elizabeth discuss the role of newsletters in curating information in a high-choice media environment and the way journalism has adapted to becoming digital. They discuss newsletters as a form of political information sharing and how this type of media can facilitate a direct relationship between author and reader. Elizabeth and Nick close out the show by chatting about the different reasons that individuals might subscribe to a political newsletter,  the role of news aggregators in curating information, and what it's like to work in the Ottawa “fishbowl”. Additional Resources: To learn more about the high-choice media environment, check out Wonks and War Rooms’ first episode: The High-Choice Media Environment with Jane Lytvynenko. Nick mentions how newsletters are an old medium that are being updated to stay fresh and trendy. For some background on the history of the newsletter, consult The Newsletter Boom, 300 Years before Substack. Nick provides examples of how the unmediated and relational nature of newsletters allows him to cultivate a direct relationship with his subscribers. For an academic perspective on this, consult: Email Newsletters and the Changing Journalist-Audience Relationship.  Elizabeth and Nick talk about how audiences are increasingly seeking out journalists’ opinions on the news. For an example of this, consult The Rise of the Talking Journalist: Human Voice, Engagement, and Trust in Live Journalism Performance. Elizabeth and Nick discuss the parasocial relationship between the author and reader, for more details on parasocial relationships, check out the Wonks and War Rooms episode on Parasocial Relationships with T.X. Watson Elizabeth also mentions the blurring of the boundaries between political journalist and political pundit or social media influencer or columnist or opinion writer.  For more information about the difference between journalism and punditry, consult the article: Are pundits journalists? Contributors Host: Elizabeth Dubois Research Lead: Mykenzie Barrera Transcript: Michelle Rodrigues  Audio Editing: Ayman Naciri Translation: Els Thant & Helena Legault Publishing and Promotion: Helena Legault  Producer: Michelle Hennessey Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.

In this episode, Elizabeth is joined by Conner Coles, a former lobbyist with experience working in and around politics, including during the political party candidate nomination process. Conner walks us through the issue of foreign interference in nomination races , how a lack of federal oversight in these contests exacerbates the problem, and the impact this can have on our democratic systems. Conner and Elizabeth dive into examples of foreign interference through news and government reports and discuss the implications of candidates being responsible for carrying the burden of foreign interference unknowingly. This episode closes with some of Conner’s recommendations for countering foreign interference  e at the nomination level. Additional Resources: Conner mentions Michael Chong, A Conservative MP who was targeted by Beijing told a federal inquiry that Canada has become "a playground" for foreign interference.   Conner also mentions Micheal Chong’s testimony before the Foreign Interference Commission where Chong emphasized the need for more transparency. Conner and Elizabeth also discuss the 2019 case concerning former MPP Han Dong who won the Don Valley North riding despite misleading newsletters targeting Chinese-speaking residents. Elizabeth mentions recent reports on foreign interference in Canadian elections, including: The NSICOP Special Report on Foreign Interference in Canada’s Democratic Processes and Institutions The Initial Report of the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions, and The First Report of the Independent Special Rapporteur  on Foreign Interference. Elizabeth and Conner also mention how foreign interference Is targeting diaspora Communities in Canada, including by threatening their families back home, particularly in countries like China, India, and Iran. As an example of one tool to improve Canada’s ability to counter foreign influence, Conner notes Bill C-377 (44-1), which, if passed, would formalize the process for parliamentarians to request a security clearance from the Government of Canada.  Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.

In this episode, Elizabeth interviews Brazilian journalist and columnist Patrícia Campos Mello, who first exposed the illegal use of WhatsApp mass messaging in Brazil's 2018 presidential elections. Together, they examine how politically motivated groups orchestrate fake grassroots movements—known as astroturfing—to manipulate public opinion and influence media coverage. Patrícia shares Brazilian examples to highlight the evolution of these tactics, from mass messaging operations to highly coordinated content promotion strategies. They also delve into the ethical and regulatory challenges that astroturfing presents for democracy.  Additional resources:  Elizabeth defines astroturfing based on Digital astroturfing in politics: Definition, typology, and countermeasures by Kovic et al. (2023) and Online astroturfing: A problem beyond disinformation by Chan (2024). For additional context on the 2018 Brazilian Presidential Elections, consult: Vox's explainer on Brazil's 2018 Presidential Elections  Patrícia discusses the tools and strategies used for mass messaging campaigns. For a more detailed explanation, consult: How WhatsApp is being abused in Brazil's elections  Patricia's original report exposing the illegal use of WhatsApp mass messaging practices is available in Portuguese with an English summary. Follow Patrícia on Instagram @patacamposmello and X @camposmello.  Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.

In this episode, Elizabeth Dubois chats with Melanie Paradis, President of Texture Communications, to dissect the theory of planned behaviour and its application in political communication. With Melanie’s extensive background in political strategy and public relations, and her roles on high-profile political campaigns, this discussion explores how psychological principles underpin effective political messaging and voter engagement strategies. Additional Resources:  Elizabeth relies on The Theory of Planned Behaviour: Reactions and Reflections and Knowledge and the Prediction of Behavior: The Role of Information Accuracy in the Theory of Planned Behavior to explain the theory.  Melanie underlines the role of third-party advertising as it relates to elections and advocacy in Canada. You can learn more about this through an article published by Policy Options titled Third parties strive to become a driving force in elections.  Melanie describes the Conservative Party of British Columbia’s "I’m trying something new" advertisement, released in October 2024, as an example of an advertisement targeting swing voters. Throughout the episode, both Elizabeth and Melanie refer to foreign interference  and how misinformation and disinformation are impacting the Canadian political communications environment. Similar themes were discussed in the Wonks and War Rooms episode Propaganda, Government Comms, and Disinformation with Shuvaloy Majumdar.  Melanie makes several references to the 2017 Conservative Party of Canada leadership race, where Andrew Scheer beat 13 other candidates by a narrow margin. You can learn more about this leadership race, and the lessons learned from it, in Eric Grenier’s analysis titled What the 2017 Conservative leadership race told us about what it takes to win.  Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.

Wonks and War Rooms is kicking off season 7 with all things elections! With 73 elections worldwide, 2024 is being called a “global elections supercycle”.  Elizabeth introduces the headlining topics listeners can get excited to learn about this season, including the theory of planned behaviour, astroturfing, foreign interference at the nomination level, and election laws. Elizabeth also talks about the land acknowledgement you hear at the end of each WWR episode, she explains how Wonks and War Rooms is working towards reconciliation through research, guests and other initiatives and contextualizes this effort within the University of Ottawa’s broader Indigenous Affirmation  Additional Resources: Check out the 2024 Global elections Supercycle tracker for more information on worldwide elections in 2024. Elizabeth notes the next Canadian election is currently scheduled for October 2025. Elizabeth mentions the Truth and Reconciliation calls to action and the role of land acknowledgements [for more information, visit the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation run by the University of Manitoba] Elizabeth references the University of Ottawa’s Indigenous Resources, including the Indigenous Affairs office, the Indigenous Education Council and the University of Ottawa’s Indigenous Affirmation [see also: University of Ottawa’s Indigenous Resource Centre] Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.

This week Elizabeth talks with Seher Shafiq, a program manager at the Mozilla Foundation and expert in civic engagement, particularly in the context of elections and engaging marginalized people in the vote. They discuss how AI is impacting Canadian elections, civic engagement, and democracy. They look at helpful and not so helpful uses of AI tools in elections and chat about ways these tools could be used to increase voter engagement. Seher concludes the episode with suggestions for how we can deal with the lack of trust in AI, including an emphasis on digital literacy.  Side note: We are collecting examples of impacts of the podcast and we’d love to hear from you. Could you take two minutes to fill out this short questionnaire for feedback on the podcast. Additional Resources: Elizabeth mentions the report she wrote with Pol Comm Tech Lab member and PhD student Michelle Bartleman, The Political Uses of AI in Canada, which touches on a lot of the topics discussed in this episode.  Check out this article, The impact of generative AI in a global election year, by Valerie Wirtschafter for examples of AI robocalls/media impersonating candidates, as mentioned by Seher. For more information on the threat that deepfakes pose for Canadian elections, consult The Evolution of Disinformation: A Deepfake Future, a report published by CSIS.  For an overview of digital literacy theories, listen to our final episode from Season 3 of the podcast: Mapping theories for media and digital literacy.  Elizabeth also mentions two past episodes on personal influence: The Two-Step Flow and Opinion Leaders with Nick Switalski and Personal Influence in Politics. Seher mentions that she worked on a report with Mozilla recently, which explores Common Crawl corpus’ “influence as a backbone for Large Language Models: its shortcomings, benefits, and implications for trustworthy AI.” Find more from Seher on her website, X, and LinkedIn. Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.

In this episode Elizabeth discusses the idea of counter-speech as content moderation with far right extremist researcher, Kesa White. Kesa describes her work on “dog-whistling,” talks about how counter speech can be helpful but doesn’t solve the problem of hate speech online, and explains some of the challenges tech companies face with content moderation. Drawing on her own experience with hate-speech she emphasizes how important it is for us to keep being “in the know” about social media and what is being said. We are doing a call-out for people who have had some kind of impact or have been helped by this podcast - we’d love to hear from you! Here is a google form to fill out to help us track the impact of our podcast! Additional Resources Elizabeth mentions our past content moderation episode of the podcast with guest Andrew Strait.  Elizabeth also references some categories of hate speech (Consult: Thou Shalt Not Hate: Countering Online Hate Speech)   Kesa mentions her project with the RSM fellowship, her piece is titled “Not All Superheros Wear Capes: Identity Triggers the Trolls” For more context on the concept of counter-speech and extremism, here is an article by the Dangerous Speech Project based on a Counter-speech field study on Twitter.  Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.

This week Elizabeth talks with Michael Redhead Champagne, a community organizer in Winnipeg working to dismantle harmful systems and build better ones through Indigenous practices and knowledge. They discuss collective and connective action logics, and the importance of creating networks of people to promote and sustain change. Michael talks about building a spider web or network to help advance change, highlighting how essential fostering social connections is for pushing for political change. Elizabeth also asks Michael about the ways he uses social media to get information out and get people in.  Side note: We are collecting examples of impacts of the podcast and we’d love to hear from you. Could you take two minutes to fill out this short questionnaire for feedback on the podcast. Additional Resources: For a quick explanation on the logic of collective action and the tragedy of the commons, check the video Collective Action 101: What Are Large-Scale Collective Action Problems? For a more in-depth explanation of collective action, connective action and the comparison between the two, you can read the article that first discussed connective action by Bennett and Segerberg The logic of connective action: Digital media and the personalization of contentious politics  Michael talks about some amazing projects he has worked on such as Our Care, the review of Manitoba's Child Welfare Legislation, and Meet me at the Bell Tower  You can also read Michael's Health Services Should Care for us Auntie-Style [2MB] report Elizabeth and Michael talk about the social movements Black Lives Matter, Idle no More, Women's Memorial March You can learn more about our guest, read his blog, sign up for his newsletter, and buy his children's book We Need Everyone on his website Michael Redhead Champagne   Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.

In this episode Elizabeth chats with TikTok creator and researcher T.X. Watson about parasocial relationships and how this term created in the 1950s applies, or not, to digital content creators. T.X. talks about relationships between influencers and their followers and how both research and popular culture still don't have words to properly describe this new form of connection. They discuss important topics that show up throughout this season of Wonks and War Rooms, such as authenticity, ethics, co-creation and measuring influence. Side note: We are collecting examples of impacts of the podcast and we’d love to hear from you. Could you take two minutes to fill out this short questionnaire for feedback on the podcast. Additional Resources: Elizabeth and T.X. mention the 1950s research by Horton and Wohl that defined the concept of parasocial relationships. They explain the term in their article  Mass Communication and Para-Social Interaction: Observations on Intimacy at a Distance  Elizabeth talks about how some researchers are discussing the use of the term parasocial relationships to talk about influencers and proposing alternatives. One alternative is given by Lou in the article  Social Media Influencers and Followers: Theorization of a Trans-Parasocial Relation and Explication of Its Implications for Influencer Advertising  T.X. mentions Nancy Baym's book "Playing to the Crowd", but you can also check her out in conversation with Daniel Cavicchi and Norma Coates in this chapter on Music fandom in the digital age T.X. mentions the Vlogbrothers John and Hank Green that have been making social media content since 2006 Find T.X. Watson on TikTok Check out past episodes mentioned in this one: News Influencers with Rachel Gilmore, Political Influencers with Nate Lubin, and Technological Affordances with Rachel Aiello Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.

In this episode Elizabeth delves into the fascinating world of data and personalization with Hamish Marshall, former National Campaign Manager for the Conservative Party of Canada and seasoned expert at the crossroads of data and politics. They explore the evolution from the Two-Step Flow to the One-Step Flow of Communication, examining how data personalization and the changing media landscape have shifted the way information is disseminated in political campaigns. Hamish shares real-world insights into the practicalities and challenges of data-driven campaigning, touching on the nuances of voter targeting, the effectiveness of door-knocking, and the potential of personalized campaign strategies. Additional Resources: Elizabeth relies on Bennett and Manheim’s article, The One-Step Flow of Communication, to outline the theory.  To provide historical context, The Two-Step Flow of Communication by Katz is referenced.  For further information on data-driven campaigning, consult Just what is data-driven campaigning? A systematic review by Dommet, Barclay, and Gibson.  Hamish discusses the limitations of data targeting in political campaigns, referencing the varied effectiveness of these strategies in different jurisdictions due to privacy laws and data availability. For more information about data laws and availability, consult:Elections Canada’s collection of personal information and data privacy practices, This Reuters article on the use of data in political campaigns in US elections,  This piece about the German government's support of banning the use of personal data in political campaigning, and  The UK’s guidelines for the use of personal data in political campaigns.  Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.

In this episode, Elizabeth chats with digital communication strategist and experienced political campaigner, Nate Lubin about social media content creators in politics. Nate draws on his experience with the Better Internet Initiative which helps influencers make educational content related to progressive issues as well as his past experience as Director of the Office of Digital Strategy at the White House and Director of Digital Marketing at Obama for America. They talk about what constitutes a political influencer, how content creators engage in politics, and different models of influencer engagement. Additional Resources: Elizabeth relies on Brooke Erin Duffy’s article, Social Media Influencers to define the term. Check out the Better Internet Initiative, a program that Nate mentions throughout the episode.  Elizabeth mentions Political influencers in Canadian election laws, as defined by Elections Canada in their interpretation note on partisan and election advertising on the internet. For more context on what “political speech” means in the American context, here is an article by de Gregorio and Goanta, which touches on how political speech is a constitutionally protected form of speech in the US. Nate mentions his Berkman Klein Centre’s Project, Accountability Infrastructure in Public Health.  Throughout the episode Elizabeth and Nate talk about different models of engaging social media influencers in politics. Check out the article Social Media Influencers and the 2020 U.S. Election: Paying ‘Regular People’ for Digital Campaign Communication, for more from an American perspective. Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.

In this episode Elizabeth chats with journalist Rachel Gilmore about what counts as journalistic content and how to navigate the intersection of journalism and the social media influencer industry. Rachel is a freelance journalist who posts regularly on TikTok (@rachel_gilmore), Instagram (@r.gilmore), and X (@atRachelGilmore) having previously worked in organizations such as CTV and Global News. Additional Resources: In this episode, Elizabeth and Rachel discuss the blurred boundaries between traditional media and new media platforms. Learn more about this from Phoebe Maares’ article: Exploring the boundaries of journalism: Instagram micro-bloggers in the twilight zone of lifestyle journalism. Rachel and Elizabeth discuss the decline in trust of journalists in the shift towards new marketing strategies. For more, consult Leonie Wunderlich’s article: Does Journalism Still Matter? The Role of Journalistic and non-Journalistic Sources in Young Peoples’ News Related Practices. Rachel mentions the role of journalists on TikTok and what new forms of journalism have appeared with the use of TikTok. To read further on those new forms and journalists’ roles, consult María-Cruz Negreira-Rey’s article: Blurring Boundaries Between Journalists and Tiktokers: Journalistic Role Performance on TikTok. Elizabeth and Rachel explore how news influencers challenge the traditional theoretical tensions between celebrity influence and opinion leadership. For more on opinion leadership, check out our previous episode: The Two-Step Flow Hypothesis with Nick Switzalski.  Elizabeth mentions a previous Wonks and War Rooms episode on Journalism and online harassment with Rosemary Barton, Fatima Syed and Mark Blackburn. This episode was a special live recording in our Season 4 on Mis- and Dis-information. Find Rachel’s work on TikTok (@rachel_gilmore), Instagram (@r.gilmore), and X (@atRachelGilmore). Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.

This week Elizabeth chats with Dave Sommer, Vice President of Strategic Communication at Enterprise Canada, former Head of Politics and Government at Instagram in Washington, D.C., and former Deputy Director of Communications, Digital, for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa. They chat about the use of social media in political campaigning, where personal influence fits in, and how it has evolved over time. Additional Resources: Elizabeth and Dave discuss how social media can be a tool to help connect with existing political audiences and potentially mobilize folks who are on your side. Learn more about this theory in Andrew Hugh’s 2018 article, Weapons of Mass Consumption: Social and Digital Media in Political Campaigns. Elizabeth mentions that social media may be changing how campaigns leverage volunteers and online relationships. Bruce Bimber’s article, Digital Media in the Obama Campaigns: Adaptation to the Personalized Political Communication Environment, argues that Obama set a precedent for this type of engagement. Elizabeth notes that social media platforms are constantly evolving and she chats with Dave about how some are choosing to deprioritize political content. For more on how changes in platform structure can influence campaigning, see The Digital Architectures of Social Media. Elizabeth and Dave touch on the importance of authenticity in social media. For more on this, listen to our season 1 episode on Authenticity with Kevin Parent. Dave talks about his experience developing the  "I voted" Stickers on Instagram in 2018 and Meta’s Voter Information Center in 2020. Dave references NDP leader Jagmeet Singh’s use of TikTok in the last election. For more on this, see The Use of TikTok for Political Campaigning in Canada: The Case of Jagmeet Singh. Elizabeth brings up the idea that the candidate that you want to have a beer with may be the candidate you're more likely to vote for, to which Dave recalls the “beer summit”  and that neither Trump nor Biden drink. Throughout the discussion, Dave is reminded of the famous quote: “Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you." Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.

This week Elizabeth chats with tech culture reporter and Washington Post columnist, Taylor Lorenz about influencers and the influencer industry. Taylor takes us from Ce-web-reties to influencers to content creators, telling us a bit about the history of folks who monetize their online presence. The two chat about the influencer industry beyond social media influencer marketing, the unique dynamics of political campaigning, smaller scale content creators as opinion leaders, and the ways in which having a perspective in the content you create meshes with expectations for authenticity and objectivity. Additional Resources: Check out Taylor’s book Extremely Online : The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet. Elizabeth introduces a definition of influencer by Brooke Erin Duffy, you might also want to check out Brooke’s book: (Not) Getting Paid to Do What you Love. Elizabeth adds to that definition to talk about political influencers building from an article by Martin Riedl, Josephine Lukito and Samuel Woolley. Taylor mentions White House efforts to rely on influencers during the COVID-19 pandemic and Elizabeth mentions a similar strategy by the Quebec government.  If you are interested in the influencer industry The Influencer Industry by Emily Hund and Internet Celebrity by Crystal Abidin are two great books to check out. Find Taylor on TikTok and YouTube. Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.

Prepare for an intriguing journey in Season 6 of Wonks & War Rooms! Join Elizabeth Dubois as she unravels the dynamics of personal influence in politics, especially as it evolves with new technologies. In this episode Elizabeth talks about her experience working in politics and how it has pushed her to question what counts as personal influence and what roles technology plays in political communication. She also gives a peak at what to expect this season.  New episodes drop Wednesday mornings. Additional Resources: Elizabeth highlights how new technologies are integrated into campaign strategies. Elizabeth summarizes the two step flow hypothesis, published by Katz and Lazarsfeld in the 1950s. They hypothesized that most people rely on their social circle to help interpret and filter information. For more info, see our previous episode from Season 1: The Two-Step Flow and Opinion Leaders with Nick Switalski  Elizabeth highlights key topics within personal influence, such as targeted communications using personal data and news influencers.   Elizabeth links the one-step flow of communication to the influence of personalized messages based on data collection. Elizabeth highlights our new relationships with our media environment. Elizabeth gives an overview of persuasion and how it works, through methods such as reciprocation.  Next, Elizabeth recalls a period of micro-targeting using massive amounts of personal data, before highlighting the use of social networks for peer-to-peer communications, like relational campaigning Finally, Elizabeth forecasts an uptake in synthetic content in future campaigning. Catch up on previous episodes and find annotated transcripts in English and French at polcommtech.com. Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.

Get ready for Season 6 of Wonks & War Rooms! This season, we're looking at personal influence in politics and how it evolves as new technologies are integrated into campaign strategies. Host Elizabeth Dubois will talk to journalists, campaigners, content creators, activists and more to discuss everything from opinion leaders to social media influencers to personalization and augmented analytics to generative AI and how all of those things impact the way personal influence plays out in politics. As always, episodes will drop Wednesday mornings every week or two. Our first episode of the season is coming to your feed Wednesday, January 20th. Also, to expand on last season's discussion about political uses of AI in Canada, we are launching a brand new report. You can sign up for our free virtual launch event on January 31st at noon Eastern Standard Time, where Laura Tribe and I will discuss the report and what it means for upcoming elections and campaigns Get caught up on past episodes and find fully annotated transcripts in English and French at https://www.polcommtech.com/. Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.

In this final episode, our host Elizabeth reflects on the six episodes of Season 5, which dug into tech, politics, and policy with guests from the Berkman Klein Centre at Harvard and Center for Information Technology and Public Life (CITAP) at UNC-Chapel Hill. She recaps highlights of each episode, looks at what they had in common, and where we need to dig a little deeper. Additional resources: Here are direct links to this season’s episodes, including show notes and annotated transcripts: Episode 1: Knowledge Mobilization for Policy Impact with Petra Molnar Episode 2: Image Manipulation with Juliana Castro-Varón Episode 3: Meta Oversight Board with Julie Owono Episode 4: Big Tech and Political Campaigns with Becca Rinkevich Episode 5: The Uses of AI in Canadian Politics (Live Event) Episode 6: Antitrust and Big Tech with Matt Perault Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.

Matt Perault is the director of the Center on Technology Policy at UNC Chapel Hill, and previously worked at Facebook, as the head of the global policy development team. This episode he and Elizabeth get into the weeds on antitrust competition laws, monopolies and big tech. They talk about how monopolies can be both good and bad, the goals of antitrust laws, and the complication of these laws applying across different regions of the world. They also discuss some of the antitrust lawsuits in big tech right now, and the various stakeholders involved. Additional resources:  Off the top, Elizabeth mentions this crash course video about monopolies and anti-competitive markets. Matt uses a few terms related to the antitrust context: interoperability - the ability for users to use different devices or systems interchangeability, for example using the same cable to charge different types of cell phones nondiscrimination principle - a WTO principle that prevents a country from discriminating between countries or against other countries as trading partners consumer welfare standard - a guideline that prohibits actions by companies that negatively impact consumers Matt brings up a number of antitrust cases throughout the episode: FTC suit to block a proposed merger between Meta and Within Unlimited UK looking into Microsoft bid to buy video game company Activision 16 U.S. states and territories filed a suit against Google over ad technology practices U.S. Justice Department filed a suit on the same issue at the federal level FTC looking at Amazon for monopolistic business practices Dispute between Apple and Epic Games  House Judiciary Committee did a big a investigation of big tech companies There are also a few big pieces of antitrust legislation that come up. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) — Europe Competition Act — Canada  Please visit our website for complete show notes with additional links. Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.

In this special episode Elizabeth is joined by our panel of experts — Samantha Bradshaw, Wendy Chun, Suzie Dunn, Fenwick McKelvey and Wendy H. Wong —  for a roundtable discussion on how artificial intelligence is being deployed in Canadian political contexts. The topics range from mis- and disinformation, facial recognition, synthetic media, deep fakes and voice cloning to technical terms like GANs and large language models. We discuss the ways identities can be manipulated through AI, how generative AI creates content that dilutes our trust in images and media, and how AI relies on past data to make decisions about our future. We also look at potential solutions to all these challenges, including how to develop tools and techniques to detect disinformation, and questions around regulating AI while also enabling its use in creative expression. This episode is packed with more resources than we can list below, so take a look through the annotated transcript for more links! Additional resources:  The discussion focuses a lot on synthetic media — deep fakes, voice cloning, generative AI — and how AI is used to create fake images, videos or sound bites of politicians, as well as fake historical or political events. Some increasingly popular tools include Midjourney, Dall-E, Stable Diffusion and ChatGPT. Suzie brings up the challenge of regulating these uses of AI. Take a look at her paper Identity Manipulation: Responding to Advances in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. Samantha talks about tools and techniques to detect AI-enabled dis-information, propaganda and manipulation. Take a look at this guide that she co-authored: Combating Information Manipulation: A Playbook for Elections and Beyond.  Wendy C. outlines some of the challenges related to the underlying data on which AI relies and the flawed ways that AI systems make sense of that data. For a deep dive, take a look at her book Discriminating Data: Correlation, Neighborhoods, and the New Politics of Recognition. Wendy W. asked the question: what does the public need to know to decide what kinds of automation or machine learning or AI we're comfortable with as a society? Here’s an op-ed she co-wrote for the Globe and Mail on this. And keep your eye out for her upcoming book: We, the Data: Human Rights in the Digital Age. Fenwick points out that people have promised computers would disrupt politics since the 1960, and part of the work is understanding which challenges are actually new. Check out his book about the history of programs that run in the background of our computers: Internet Daemons - Digital Communications Possessed.  Check out www.polcommtech.ca for annotated transcripts of this episode in English and French.